Export Settings

I recently did a shoot with my rebel t2i and an 18-135mm lens. I shot the video in 1920x1080 at 24 fps. I edit with Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Now that I think of it, I'm unclear as to what my sequence settings should be? Guidance?

My real question is what my export settings should be. My video will be going on YouTube. People have told me that the H264, Youtube 720 HD is a good setting for videos going up to YouTube. But if I shot in 1920x1080, shouldn't I go with 1920x1080 HD. I'll be shooting most of my video in the same manner for a few months, so I'd like to have a go to export setting. I would really appreciate the help, thanks everyone.

First, what kind of edits will be done? Pan\zooming? Speeding up\slowing down?

If you pan\zoom, you'll lose quality fast. If you zoom to 115, you'll be okay, but beyond that, you'll really notice a problem from 1080p or 720p video. If you were to make your own sequence, I'd go with a widescreen 720x480 size (480i usually, but 480p for our purposes). If you want to keep a 1:1 square pixel size and pixel aspect ratio of 16x9, use 853x480. You can zoom out unit you're just bigger than your frame (don't have the video auto resize, you won't be able to keep quality when pan\zooming; drop the video in and size it down until its just right). You can then zoom in without loss in quality, and move around a little. This works great for TV screens, or external screens that are better at upsizing. For standard computing however, don't pan\zoom if you want Sharp picture. Or only do it lightly using the 720p setting. Also, I recommend a max bit-rate of 10-12mbps. That's standard internet speed anymore, and won't lose much for quality. Set your low to 4 if you have sections where only 1 or 2 objects move slower, and 6 if you have more sections of action. Set the target to 8-10.

To answer your question, if you want to apply some slight zoom or reduction of shake, use a 720p 24fps sequence and size your video down manually to start. Then apply your other effects. When you output, start with the 720p setting and then adjust your bit-rate (leave it as Constant Frame rate CFR, but VBR for Variable bit rate) as mentioned above. You'll get outstanding quality.
If you don't need all the pan\zoom, use the 1080P and set the bit-rates as stated above. You'll get a larger frame size, more compression, but it will only hurt if your action is really intense. If you have some super awesome action, up the values by 3-5mb\s.
Either way, turn on frame blending. Sometimes one or two frames will be dropped by a camera and need to be rebuilt at the end. You can enable this by turning it on at export. If your audio slips out, Export your video only with the same formatting as the original, do not carry audio with it, turn on frame blending. This will build a useable video clip. Place it in the same sequence, unlink the audio from the original video, and link it to the new video. Delete the old video. Carry on.

Also, In light of recent problems found with audition, consider the following:
Make a Batch file in windows that will
1. take a dropped file as input(your session file will do)
2. get the parent folder (the whole structure is important)--this is the folder where your session is, along with the folder containing your audio files that you record.
3. periodically non-destructively (as in not deleting files that are no longer in the first folder) Mirror the contents of the parent folder to another location anywhere on any drive (every 2-5 minutes works) and make sure you set this folder, or you can simply use the parent folder of the original file and add a Backup folder inside,
4. then just continually make backups using a forever loop (Condition is always true like While 1==1). You can close it when you close audition by simply closing the Command prompt window. You won't lose everything even if you crash, after all, audition cannot delete what it knows nothing about.

On mac open automator:
start by making an application--call it BackupStart. create 2 Path variables: SessionFile, ParentFolder. These will be what you use to grab your files. Create more Path variables with names similar to BackupFolder#, where # is the number of which backup folder. You can now Set Variable Value (in actions library) for the path Session file as your first action (this will catch the path of the file you drop on the app). Next, run a shell script in Bash (an action in utilities or system), and set STDIN to Arguments. Clear everything in the shell, and type: dirname "$1" Exactly as shown (don't replace dirname, it's a command that grabs the name of the parent folder of the file you just dropped in. Add another Set Variable action for ParentFolder. Now use an ASK for finder items action, and look in it's options to "Ignore this items input" and check the box. Add a Set Variable for BackupFolder1. Repeat for each BackupFolder variable you have (ask for folder, set variable). Now add a GET VARIABLE action, go to options and select "Ignore input" again, make sure you are GETting the ParentFolder variable. Now another GET Variable for Backupfolder1, but DONT ignore input (you want the two to pass into one another and continue on). Repeat this last op for each BackupFolder variable, leaving the ignore input unchecked to group them all together. Now add a RUN WORKFLOW action and turn off "Wait for workflow to finish". Save this file, leave it open, and go to file Duplicate. Rename the duplicate BackupLoop1. File >Convert this doc to a Workflow. Delete the variable SessionFile from this document and all but the very last of the actions(Run Workflow). The other variables are still necessary. Everything we add should be above the RUN WorkFlow action. Use a Get Variable on your ParentFolder, and as before, do not check ignore input. You need this to run straight through from the first document. Add the GET Variable for your backups. Add a Shell Script in Bash, with STDIN set to Arguments. Clear the script box, and type:
rsync -vau "$1/" "$2/" (enter)
rsync -vau "$2/" "$3/" (enter)
The first line copies your parent folder's contents, the second copies the first backup to the second. You can continue this until you have handled every backup in the script. Apply a PAUSE action for a few seconds. Now add a Loop Action, and set it to run 50 or more times (applies a wait time until finish) and set it to use the same input. This will continually backup all your data as you record, and when you hit stop, you should get a copy of your audio almost immediately after, done by your system, and making the RAW file data into a finished file set. Now add the GET VARIABLE set again for all your variables, ignoring the input of the first one, but keeping it for the others. Point them into the last action of RUN WorkFlow. Again, Duplicate the document, call it BackupLoop2. Change the Run Workflow in this file so it points to where you saved BackupLoop1. Change the RUN WorkFlow in BackupLoop1 to point to BackupLoop2. Change the Run Workflow in BackupStart to point to BackupLoop1 and place BackupStart in your DOCK. When you get ready to record, drop the session file onto your dock icon, pick your backup folder(s), and then let it go. Hit record, and when you hit stop, wait a few seconds for it to end the raw file tags. Now check your backup folder. You should have a perfect WAV capture there.

IF audition crashes, you can drag the files in your backup folder to the original place and continue.

I normally don't do a lot of panning or zooming. This is really just a hobby for me, and I'll probably always shoot in 1920x1080. Can you maybe condense your summary of what my export settings should be into a sentence or two just for the simple fact that your post was very detailed and expertise based, and some of it was over my head.